Places to Visit in Botswana

Okavango Delta is one of the most famous places in Botswana, which is a giant water body spreading out to create the largest inland delta in the world. Also known as the Jewel of the Kalahari, it is regarded as the best place to go for wildlife watching in the watery wilderness of the African continent.

Covered with numerous reed banks and exotic islands, you can witness buffalo, elephant, lion, leopard, crocodile, hippo, giraffe, zebra, and wildebeest in this delta. A unique feature of these Botswana attractions is that its interior delta systems do not flow into the ocean or sea. People are also drawn towards this attraction to admire the permanent marshlands and occasionally flooded plains.

• Best Time to Visit: May to August

Regarded as the second largest park in Botswana, Chobe National Park is an authentic wildlife paradise that gives you a mesmerizing escapade to the luscious vegetation.

It is one of the best places to visit in Botswana as it features a large concentration of elephants and an abundance of impala, giraffe, sable, zebra, waterbuck, eland, lion, and hyena. Along with the game-viewing experience, you can also indulge in the Chobe Sunset River Cruise as well.

• Best Time to Visit: May to early November
• Timing: 6 am to 6.30 pm
• Location: 7C9H+QMG, Kakoaka, Botswana.

Spreading across an area of 360000 square miles, the Kalahari Desert is a massive semi-arid sandy savannah in southern Africa. It is one of the other Botswana tourists attractions that houses some of the rare species like bat eared foxes, cape foxes, black maned Kalahari lions, brown hyenas, meerkats, cheetahs, and leopards.

People are generally attracted to this desert to enjoy the authentic safari experience with excellent sightings of big cats, incredible birdlife, and antelopes. You will also find plenty of medicinal plants in this desert, such as Devil’s claw and the Harpagophytum.

Best Time to Visit: November and April

Among the other best places to visit in Botswana, Moremi Game Reserve is an immensely scenic preserve of seasonal and perennial floodplains. Considered to be the most beautiful wildlife reserve in Africa, this game reserve is one of the Botswana attractions that combine lily-covered wetlands, acacia forests, and mopane woodland.

There is also a vast network of waterways in Moremi that spans two giant islands, namely Mopane Tongue in the east and Chiefs Island in the west. With more than 500 species ranging from forest dwellers and water birds, you will stand a chance to see geese, herons, ducks, leopards, cheetahs, buffaloes, giraffes, lions, and hyenas in this game reserve.

• Best Time to Visit: May to August

• Location: Moremi, Botswana.

Regarded among the best places to visit in Botswana, Makgadikgadi Pans National Park is the largest salt pan in the world, with an incredibly surreal landscape. It is the remaining part of an ancient great central Botswana lake that surrounded the Kalahari several million years ago.

It is advisable to visit this attraction during the dry season, you will find the hippos wallowing in the deep pools of water that remain out of the dried Boteti River. The highlight of this national park is the never-ending ethereal lunar landscape of shining salt pans that looks magnificent and captivating.

Best Time to Visit: November and April

Timings: 6 am to 6.30 pm

If you want to witness the mesmerizing African wilderness in the desert landscape, you should consider Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park in your list of beautiful places to see in Botswana.

Famous for the red dunes and fading scrubs, it is one of the best Botswana tourists attractions where you can hear the chirping sounds of the herds of blue wildebeest, eland, gemsbok, and springbok. If you are lucky, you may spot the rare giant black maned lions, leopards, and numerous raptors under the shade of the imposing camel thorn trees.

• Best Time to Visit: May to September
• Timing: 7.30 am to 6 pm
• Location: R360, Upington, 8800, South Africa.

Savuti National Park is popular for its mysterious Savuti Channel that flows and subsides seamlessly with no relation to rainfall. It is one of the Botswana tourist places that features the highest concentrations of wildlife on the African continent, ranging from big cat predators, like the cheetah, hyena, and lion, to other animals, like buffalo, elephant, giraffe, and zebra.

You will discover some of the best game hotspots in Africa in this intriguing landscape and ecology of Savuti National Park. Tourists visit this national park to witness the unique interaction of the dwelling predator species, including the large concentration of bull elephants.

• Best Time to Visit: November to March

Towering at a height of 400 meters above the surrounding plains, Tswapong Hills is yet another one of the famous places in Botswana. In the hills you will get to witness numerous fascinating and gorgeous historical, archaeological, and natural sites. Littered with beautifully decorated fragments dating back to the first millennium, this hill draws the interest of a myriad of tourists throughout the year.

It is home to some of the remarkable big game animals, like the Black Eagle, the Back Stork, the gorgeous Meyer’s Parrot, the endangered Cape Vulture, and several butterfly species. You can also witness the source of the three permanent waterfalls in the Moremi Gorge, located deep within the Tswapong Hills.

• Best Time to Visit: May to October

If you are looking for a South African holiday during the winter, Kubu Island is one of the Botswana tourist places that you should consider visiting. It is a picturesque granite outcrop in the middle of the parallel Botswana salt pans.

Locally known as Lekhubu, this island is a perfect place for people who are looking for camping activities amidst the breathtaking views of the salt pans in the Makgadikgadi. For a fuller experience of these Botswana attractions, people can take a guided walking tour of the untouched, empty, and wild tourist place.

• Best Time to Visit: May to October

Francistown is one of the oldest towns in Botswana and among the fundamental Botswana tourist attractions. It is the first home ground for the gold rush in southern Africa.

Bordered by the remnants of abandoned mines, this town consists of plenty of wildlife reserves in the Tuli Block and numerous Bushmen sites and paintings. Known as the Capital of the North, Francistown receives a maximum number of tourists in the Supa Ngwao Museum, which portrays the life and culture of the Kalanga people through various exhibits. You can also discover the orphaned wild animals in Francistown named Birds and Game Botswana.

• Best Time to Visit: November, March, and September

Popularly renowned as the Louvre of the Desert, the Tsodilo Hills is one of the best places to visit in Botswana that is enveloped with more than 4500 cave paintings dating back to thousand years of age. Regarded as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, these hills in Botswana are renowned for their intriguing history of the Sans people who lived on these hills for several years. Y

ou can admire the undeniable spiritualism that attracts because of its sacredness and majestic qualities which is believed to be the ancestral space of the original inhabitants, i.e., the San and the Hambukushu.

• Best Time to Visit: June to August

• Location: Ngamiland District, Botswana.

If you are still wondering about the famous places in Botswana, you should consider Chobe River in your list of the best places to visit in Botswana. Creating the northern boundary of the Chobe National Park, this river witnesses the highest concentrations of elephants during the dry season.

It forms an integral part of the Botswana safari experience that rises in the Angolan Highlands and then twirls along the geological fault lines, making its way to the Zambezi River. If you are fortunate, you may encounter lions, crocodiles, cheetahs, wild dogs, spotted hyenas, and leopards near the river.

• Best Time to Visit: May to early November